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Friday, February 24, 2012

During Halloween last year in Pennsylvania, some members of an Atheist group joined a local parade dressed as a Zombie Pope and a "Zombie Muhammed". Talaaq Elbayomy (a Muslim immigrant) also happened to be there with his wife and kids, and when he saw Ernest V. Perce dressed up as said Zombie Muhammed, he attacked Perce (all caught on tape) to defend the Prophet's honor. After the scuffle, both men tracked down a police officer for obviously different reasons: Perce, because he was assaulted for no justifiable reason, and Elbayomy because in his supreme ignorance believed dressing up as Muhammed was a crime.

Now one would think that in America, where it might be tacky but certainly not a crime to dress up as Muhammed, the person who assaulted another individual would have to pay the piper, but not so in Judge Mark W. Martin's court. You see, Judge Martin also happens to be a Muslim convert who spent several years in Muslim countries while serving in the military. And rather than being able to separate his newly adopted religious beliefs from his constitutional duties as a judge, he dismissed the case against Elbayomy in spite of the police officer's testimony on Perce's behalf, all the while admonishing Perce for his insensitivity and lecturing him on Islam and Sharia (also caught on audio- with the judge's permission.)

“Having had the benefit of having spent over 2 and a half years in predominantly Muslim countries I think I know a little bit about the faith of Islam. In fact I have a copy of the Koran here and I challenge you sir to show me where it says in the Koran that Mohammad arose and walked among the dead. I think you misinterpreted things. Before you start mocking someone else’s religion you may want to find out a little bit more about it it makes you look like a dufus and Mr. (Defendant) is correct. In many Arabic speaking countries something like this is definitely against the law there. In their society in fact it can be punishable by death and it frequently is in their society.

“Islam is not just a religion, it’s their culture, their culture. It’s their very essence, their very being. They pray five times a day towards Mecca to be a good Muslim, before you die you have to make a pilgrimage to Mecca unless you are otherwise told you can not because you are too ill too elderly, whatever but you must make the attempt. Their greetings wa-laikum as-Salâm (is answered by voice) may god be with you. Whenever, it’s very common when speaking to each other it’s very common for them to say uh this will happen it’s it they are so immersed in it.

Well, Judge Martin, this is the U.S. and here we don't execute people for blasphemy, and although we might be offended by someone dressing up as a Zombie Jesus, Pope, Buddha, Muhammed or whomever, it is their right to do so.

Then Martin goes on to say (as per Opposing Views):

“Then what you have done is you have completely trashed their essence, their being. They find it very very very offensive. I’m a Muslim, I find it offensive. But you have that right, but you’re way outside your boundaries or first amendment rights. This is what, and I said I spent about 7 and a half years living in other countries. when we go to other countries it’s not uncommon for people to refer to us as ugly Americans this is why we are referred to as ugly Americans, because we are so concerned about our own rights we don’t care about other people’s rights as long as we get our say but we don’t care about the other people’s say”

“All that aside I’ve got here basically.. I don’t want to say he said she said but I’ve got two sides of the story that are in conflict with each other.”

And,

“The preponderance of, excuse me, the burden of proof… “

And,

“…he has not proven to me beyond a reasonable doubt that this defendant is guilty of harassment, therefore I am going to dismiss the charge”

Apparently, Martin refused to allow the video of the attack to be admissible in court.

As for ignorance of the law, had Elbayomy killed Perce in the melee, would he have sided with Elbayomy? If Judge Martin is unable to follow the rule of American law, then he has no place in our judicial system.

If you are going to criticize the decisions of Mr. Martin, at least get your facts straight! Magistrate Martin's decision had nothing to do with his religious beliefs; that comment was more of an "aside" in pronouncing the dismissal of the case. The case was dismissed because there was not enough evidence to prove the atheist's assertions. Furthermore, this happened months ago, so why the big to-do now?

Get MY facts straight? A stupid Atheist dressed up as a zombie Mohammed for a Halloween parade. An angry Muslim admitted he attacked stupid Atheist. Stupid Atheist has a right to dress up however he wishes. Angry Muslim has NO right to attack stupid Atheist. There's a video (albeit dark) of the attack. There's a police witness to corroborate said attack. Muslim judge chooses not to allow video in court and dismisses case with a long lecture about Islam.

The dismissal had everything to do with Martin's religious beliefs, which have NO place whatsoever, in the court system. He had no place lecturing Perce. Had Martin been a Christian lecturing Perce, there would have been a huge uproar. I listened to the lecture, did you??

And whether it was months ago, or a year ago, this needs to be stopped, now. And I think I've made the reasons why pretty clear.

Once again the general masses are stupid, Magistrate Martin is a Lutheran so you are an idiot. Had this been a christian attacking an athiest dressed as zombie Jesus most of you idiots would be trying to crucify the athiest. Pull your head out of your ass and educate yourself before you mouth off over something that your only knowledge is based on the biased ramblings of other morons.

I'm the idiot? Pot. Kettle. Black. Did you listen to the tape where Martin says "I'm a Muslim. And I find it offensive."?? Now why would he say that, if he wasn't??? Sure he's going to deny it now, because he's received so much flak for his actions. I think the one who needs to pull their head out of their butt is you.

Martin never said "I am a Muslim." This portion of the transcript was deliberately altered by Perce (the atheist) prior to his posting the Martin's remarks on Youtube--the fact that the altered transcript appears on this website is incredibly irresponsible as well. Furthermore, Perce did not have the right to record the magistrate's remarks in court, and he could face charges of contempt if he continues to make the recording available.

Furthermore, Martin is a practicing Lutheran, but did spend several years in the Middle East, while serving multiple tours in the Armed Forces as an active duty reservist.

Sorry, but no way was the tape altered. I've listened to it numerous times, and the background sound is consistent, as is the vocal tonality. I'm an actress. I know these things. Maybe the asinine judge said that merely to make some stupid point, but he said it.

And not irresponsible at all, besides i link to the video. What is incredibly is irresponsible is how Martin handled the case, and his lecture on Islam in a U.S. court was highly offensive.

Although what the atheist did was very childish, and I take issue with many things they do, we have freedom of speech in this country, and letting a man who assaulted another get off scott free, will only encourage others to do the same thing.

People do offensive things all the time, but in this country we don't go around attacking them physically. Westerners in Muslim dominated countries are forced to learn their laws or suffer the oftentimes dire consequences. It should be no different for them.

All of you people seem to know a lot about Martin, I'm beginning to wonder if you aren't Martin himself.